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Comic Empires: The Imperialism of Cartoons, Caricature, and Satirical Art

Date Submitted:

2012-11-08

Announcement ID:

198643

Comic Empires: The Imperialism of Cartoons, Caricature, and Satirical Art

Abstract:
In recent years, the cultural turn in the history of empire and imperialism has shed much new light on how imperialism and subject populations functioned. Yet despite ample attention being given to the role played by commercial advertising, print capitalism, travel and tourism, and other cultural forms, there has been little analysis of the key function of cartoons, satirical art, and caricature in sustaining, and challenging, imperial systems. Aside from useful surveys by Roy Douglas (Great Nations Still Enchained, 1994) and Mark Bryant (Wars of Empire in Cartoons, 2008), there exists no thorough, scholarly, interrogation of the relationship between cartoons and empire. This is a significant omission, for it is almost impossible to imagine the ‘New Imperialism’ in Africa without picturing Linley Sambourne’s ‘Rhodes Colossus’ standing astride the continent from Cape to Cairo. Similarly, Thomas Theodor Heine’s famous representation of the different Belgian, French, British, and German methods of colonialism continues to colour our understandings of imperial exploitation, as do numerous similar works by American, Japanese, and cartoonists of other nationalities. Cartoonists and satirical art also played an important role in the resistance to imperial regimes, and the recovery of their voice has been an important aspect of the postcolonial enterprise. This study therefore aims to bring together what is still a disparate field of inquiry, and offer a consolidated approach to understanding the relationship between cartoons and imperialism.

Scope:
This edited volume aims to explore the importance of cartoons, caricatures and satirical art in the imperial context through a series of case-studies spanning the age of High Imperialism (c.1815-1945) from European and non-European contexts. It will cover important threads of support, resistance and criticism, to imperialism in both metropole and periphery, explore the question of orientalism, and look at colonial development, as well as any other theme relating to empire. Already committed to the project are the editors of the collection, Dr Richard Scully (University of New England) and Dr Andrekos Varnava (Flinders University, South Australia). The editors are looking to receive proposals on the cartoons, caricature and satirical art emanating from journals published in Europe (including Ottoman Empire), the US and non-Western traditions, such as Japan.

Proposals:
Please send an abstract (150-200 words) and short professional biography to Dr Richard Scully, University of New England, at: rscully@une.edu.au, and Dr Andrekos Varnava, Flinders University, South Australia, at andrekos.varnava@flinders.edu.au by 28 June 2013. All those who send in a proposal will be notified of the result by 22 July 2013, and the full book proposal will be sent to Manchester University Press, to be considered as part of the Studies in Imperialism Series at the end of July 2013. The series editors of Studies in Imperialism, Manchester University Press, Professors John MacKenzie and Andrew Thompson, have expressed an interest in considering such a volume. Contributors will have until July 2014 to submit their finished drafts, which should be no more than 8,000 words in length (including footnotes), with a view to the volume being published in 2015. The volume will be published in English.

Editor Biographies:
Richard Scully obtained his BA (Honours) from Monash University (2003), and also his PhD (2008). He is the author of British Images of Germany: Admiration, Antagonism, and Ambivalence, 1860-1914 (Palgrave Macmillan, Britain and the World series, 2012) and the co-editor of Drawing the Line: Using Cartoons as Historical Evidence (Monash University ePress, 2009). His chief research interest – in the history of political cartoons, satirical art, and caricature – has found an outlet in numerous articles, including in the Journal of Victorian Culture (2011), Victorian Periodicals Review (2011), German Studies Review (2012), and International Journal of Comic Art (2011, 2012). He has also published on the history of Anglo-German relations and in particular on the relationship between British and German cartographers in the later nineteenth century (Imago Mundi, 2010). Richard was Assistant Lecturer at Monash University (2008), before being appointed Lecturer in Modern European History at the University of New England, Armidale, NSW (2009), where he is now Senior Lecturer, and co-ordinator of the History Honours programme.

Andrekos Varnava was born and raised in Melbourne to Cypriot born parents, obtained a BA (Honours) from Monash University (2001) and his PhD in History from the University of Melbourne (2006). He is the author of British Imperialism in Cyprus, 1878-1915: The Inconsequential Possession (Manchester University Press, Studies in Imperialism Series, 2009); and the co-editor of Reunifying Cyprus: The Annan Plan and Beyond (I. B. Tauris, 2009) and The Minorities of Cyprus: Development Patterns and the Identity of the Internal-Exclusion (Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2009). He has published numerous articles and book chapters, most recently in War in History (2012), Journal of Military History (2010), Liberal Imperialism in Europe (Palgrave Macmillan, 2012) and in The Oxford Handbook of Local and Regional Democracy in Europe ( OUP, 2011 – co-authored). He is the series editor of Cyprus Historical and Contemporary Studies for Cambridge Scholars Publishing. He held the position of Assistant Professor in History at the European University – Cyprus from October 2006 to January 2009. In January 2009 he was appointed Lecturer in Modern History at Flinders University, South Australia, and is now Senior Lecturer.

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